New legislation introduced in the wake of the fatal Seacor Power tragedy would require commercial vessel owners to provide timely notifications to crew members’ families throughout search and rescue operations.The Vessel Response Plan Improvement Act was introduced by Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) after the 234-foot lift boat capsized in the Gulf of Mexico with 19 crewmembers on board last month.
Offshore wind (OSW) energy is a new focus for the U.S. under President Biden, who highlighted it in his January 27, 2021 Executive Order on climate. Since then, there have been several new supporting developments:Rulings by the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP);Announcement that workers in Alabama and West Virginia are supplying 10
It was an odd legislative journey, but ultimately one with a happy ending. That’s one way to sum up the rather tortuous process that led to the passage of the Water Resources Development Act of 2020 (WRDA). For the first time WRDA (usually reauthorized every two years) was not enacted as its own legislative bill.
Morton S. Bouchard, III, fourth generation leader of family-owned Bouchard Transportation, has been ordered to step down from his role as chief executive officer as the Long Island-based tug and barge operator continues to navigate through bankruptcy and a string of legal challenges.
Memphis, Tenn.-based Southern Towing Company (STC) said Tuesday it has acquired family-owned Devall Towing, in a deal that expands STC’s towing operations into specialty chemical products.Headquartered in Sulphur, La., Devall is a towboat and barge operator for specialty chemicals along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and Lower Mississippi River, operating 36 towboats and 125 liquid tank barges.
China passed a law on Friday that for the first time explicitly allows its coast guard to fire on foreign vessels, a move that could make the contested waters around China more choppy.China has maritime sovereignty disputes with Japan in the East China Sea and with several Southeast Asian countries in the South China Sea.
In early October, Waterways Council, Inc. (WCI) reported in its newsletter Capitol Currents that the future of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2020 hung in the balance, with many unknowns for its chances of being signed into law during the Lame Duck session of Congress that just concluded in late December.
The United States is urging European allies and private companies to halt work that could help build the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline and is preparing wider sanctions on the Russian project in coming weeks, senior Trump administration officials said on Wednesday.The outgoing Trump administration is readying a fresh round of congressionally mandated sanctions “in the very near future” that
Russia has resumed construction of the politically-charged Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany, laying pipes after a one-year hiatus prompted by U.S. sanctions, the pipeline operator said on Friday.An alleged nerve agent attack on Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny in August was the latest political controversy to hit the nearly-completed Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline
The U.S. Senate on Friday passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2021, a massive $741 billion defense bill setting policy for the Pentagon. Importantly for the U.S. offshore and maritime industries, the bill includes an amendment ensuring full enforcement of the Jones Act and other federal laws in offshore wind development.
The owners the New Diamond supertanker which caught fire with a cargo of two million barrels of oil aboard has agreed to pay 340 million rupees ($1.84 million) to Sri Lanka for its help in extinguishing the blaze and averting disaster.The interim claim is for services provided by the Sri Lankan navy, air force
In response to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, the Congressional Research Service released a report that stated global economic growth has declined by 3% to 6% in 2020 with a partial recovery predicted for 2021. Also, the GDP of the U.S. has fallen by 5% in the first quarter 2020.